Highlight Reel: Boys Basketball Finals

March 28, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director 

The winter sports season concluded Saturday with the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at the Breslin Center at Michigan State University.

Below are highlight clips from every game plus links to watch them in full

Class A

Detroit Western International 62, Saginaw Arthur Hill 59 

Blackshear Six-Point Run - Gerald Blackshear of Detroit Western scored the first six points of the fourth quarter in the Class A Final against Saginaw Arthur Hill. He ended the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Leaping Lumberjacks - Saginaw Arthur Hill gets its first lead of the Class A Final against Detroit Western on this alley-oop from Eric Davis to Brian Bowen. Bowen finished with a game-high 21 points. 

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here. 

Class B

Wyoming Godwin Heights 85, Detroit Henry Ford 68 

A Couple Of Statements - Wyoming Godwin Heights makes a statement with its flashy taste in shoes, and a great alley-oop play to its leading scorer in the Class B Final, Delaney Blaylock. The Wolverines had four players in double figures, led by Blaylock's 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Davis Drives For Two - Josh Davis led Detroit Henry Ford with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Here he scores on a drive in the second quarter in the Class B Final. 

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here. 

Class C

Flint Beecher 78, Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian 52 

Moten Gets The Basket - Cedric Moten goes coast-to-coast for Flint Beecher against Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian for the old-fashioned three-point play. Moten led the Bucs with 24 points.

Nice Dunk By Nhial - Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian had a seven-point run in the third quarter topped off by Kual Nhial's dunk. Nhial had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. 

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Class D 

Powers North Central 67, Morenci 47

Whitens For The Hoop & One - Jason Whitens led Powers North Central in the Class D Final against Morenci with 19 points, including this three-point play in the first quarter. 

Sharing The Rock - Bobby Black makes a nice feed to Torin Merillat for a first-quarter basket for Morenci.

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

PHOTO: Flint Beecher’s Malik Ellison looks to make a move while being defended by NorthPointe’s Andrew Holesinger.

Unity Makes Fast Start Stand Up, Sets Up Rematch on Season's Final Day

By Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com

March 13, 2026

EAST LANSING – Hudsonville Unity Christian likes the idea of a rematch.

The Crusaders turned a near-flawless first half into a much-anticipated rematch after outlasting Detroit University Prep 59-44 in Friday's concluding Division 2 Semifinal at the Breslin Center.

The win means Unity Christian will play Freeland for a second time in just over a month in Saturday's 6:45 p.m. championship game.

Freeland knocked off the Crusaders 65-60 in the teams' first meeting Feb. 7. Since that game, Unity Christian (25-3) has won 11 straight, while the Falcons (25-3) have collected nine wins in a row.

Over 30 years as Unity Christian's coach, Scott Soodsma's teams have faced countless rematches in the MHSAA Tournament. His philosophy in matching up a second time in those games has never wavered.

"In the first game, we kind of gave it up or they probably took it," said Soodsma, one of the only Michigan coaches to win boys (2019) and girls (2006) Finals titles. "(Saturday) should be a really good game. They know how we play, and we know how they play. They watch a lot of tape, I watch a lot of tape. It'll be a contest of who steps up and who doesn't."

The question may be which Unity Christian team shows up. Will it be the one which lost the first meeting? Or the torrid Crusaders team which trampled its way to a 34-11 halftime lead against a University Prep club which had won 10 of its last 11? Or the Unity Christian club which was outscored 33-25 in the second half of Friday’s Semifinal, including scoring only four points during the fourth quarter?

Unity Christian senior forward Jack Kamminga thinks he knows which team will arrive at Breslin on Saturday.

Maurice Jackson (21) considers his options from just outside the arc. "Definitely the better one," he said. "We kinda dropped off in the fourth quarter tonight. They pressured us and put us in a bad position. But we'll go full hammer tomorrow. We've got nothing to lose."

Crusaders senior guard Brogan Sherd said either way he's expecting a classic championship game.

"It'll be fun. We had a great crowd the first time, and we know we've got to play hard," he said. "We kind of got lazy the first time and fell apart."

Soodsma would give away nothing about what the Crusaders learned from the first meeting.

"They've got a very good club, well-coached. They play the right way," said Soodsma, who this season passed Kent Ingles and Kurt Keener to move into fourth place on the state's all-time coaching wins list with 694.

Owen VanderWall led Unity Chistian on Friday with 12 points and nine rebounds. Luke Tubergen had 12 points and Sherd nine points, five rebounds and three assists.

Detroit University Prep trailed by as many as 23 points twice in the third quarter, including at 55-32. But the Panthers cut the lead to as little as 57-44 with 3:37 to go.

"They're a better team than I thought they were," Panthers coach Brandon Barrett said of Unity Christian. "They're a big team, they're aggressive and for their size, they move very well. Maybe if we'd pressured them earlier it would have been a different outcome. But that's 50/50. Credit them, they played well."

Unity Christian's Tubergen said the team's first half was outstanding.

"One of our best," he said. "We rebounded great, hit some 3s, worked the ball inside and the defense was really good."

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Unity Christian’s Owen VanderWaal (12) makes his move toward the basket during Friday’s Division 2 Semifinal against University Prep. (Middle) Maurice Jackson (21) considers his options from just outside the arc. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)